CFP: [Theory] The Exemplary Other: the Arab and the Jew (Villanova University, April 2-4, 2009)

full name / name of organization:

Zahi Zalloua

contact email:

zallouz@whitman.edu

Call for Papers: The Exemplary Other: the Arab and the Jew in ContinentalPhilosophy, Center for Arab and Islamic Studies, Villanova University,April 2-4, 2009

A panel to be held at the 25th anniversary celebration of the Center forArab and Islamic Studies at Villanova University, devoted to the theme,â€œMirror Images: Challenges for Arab and Islamic Studiesâ€

Panel description:

>From Sartre to Levinas to Derrida, continental philosophers have at varioustimes deployed the Jew, the Jewâ€™s Otherâ€”the Arabâ€”or the Israeliâ€™s Otherâ€”thePalestinianâ€”as the paradigmatic object of and model for ethical inquiry.What is at stake in thinking the Other as Jew or Arab? Is a rhetoric ofexemplarity, with its ontological residue, at odds with shifting politicalrealities? How do the legacies of humanism and anti-humanism inform thedebates about the Jew and the Arab? Should we, as Badiou and Zizekcontend, be suspicious of an ethics identified almost exclusively with aLevinasian rhetoric of pure alterity (where the Jew stands for the radicalother)?

Interested contributors should submit an abstract of 200 words to ZahiZalloua (zallouz_at_whitman.edu) by September 30, 2008. Full conferencedetails are available at: